Chip designers double down on the IoT

Microprocessor designers for some time have been anticipating and making plans for the arrival of IoT solutions that could cause them to pivot into the space and away from their traditional business models.

But two recent developments indicate that a point has been reached where these companies believe they must significantly ramp up their efforts to design chips for a wide variety of IoT use cases, likely in response to the expected rapid device growth in the coming years.

Here are the two developments and what they mean for the IoT microprocessor space:

Qualcomm announced that its Snapdragon 210 chip will have support for Android Things and LTE connectivity later this year. The development platform, which was announced by Google late last year, already includes hardware partnerships with the Raspberry Pi 3, NXP Pico, and the Intel Edison. Adding Qualcomm's chip to this list of compatible hardware gives developers another option from a well-known chip designer, and thus should only bolster the platform's appeal to developers. Meanwhile, Qualcomm made a smart move by pairing its processors with Android Things, as the platform has access to Google Cast audio, which makes it ideal for connected home devices such as appliances and smart home speakers like the Google Home. The chips also have language, image, and data-processing capabilities that occur at the edge, rather than in the cloud.

Softbank-owned ARM Holdings made two acquisitions to bolster its cellular-based narrowband-IoT chip offerings, according to Computer Business Review. The chip designer acquired Mistbase and NextG-Com, the former of which provides a physical layer implementation solution and the latter of which offers a software stack for narrowband-based IoT solutions. The narrowband standard is a mobile standard designed primarily for giving low-power wide-area connectivity to machine-to-machine (M2M) IoT applications, which are often used in industrial IoT solutions but can also be found in a variety of IoT use cases. This could mean that ARM is doubling down on manufacturing IoT solutions, something it's bet on in the past.

It's noteworthy that both chip designers are betting on slightly different connectivity options for the IoT. According to the Business Insider Global IoT Executive Survey, 60% of network providers use cellular connections, while 80% use Wi-Fi, 59% use Bluetooth, and 31% use a low-power wide-area network to connect the devices in their offerings. But these two developments indicate that these different connectivity options will remain a key feature of the IoT for the foreseeable future.

But both companies will face strong competition from other chip designers in a space that's increasingly crowded. As mentioned previously, Qualcomm is only the latest microprocessor designer to bet big on providing chips for the Android Things IoT platform. Intel especially has grown its IoT Group steadily over the past 18 months, carving out a niche designing chips for a diverse set of IoT use cases. Meanwhile, hardware such as the Intel Edison and the Raspberry Pi 3 remain popular among developers building IoT solutions, meaning that it'll be critical to see which emerges as the most popular option in the future.

Although Wi-Fi and cellular networks can connect IoT devices to the internet, they have inherent characteristics that make them ill-suited to do so for small, low-power components like sensors, smart locks, and smart lights.

BI Intelligence expects that more than 24 billion IoT devices will be installed globally in 2020, and the vast majority of these will fall into the small, low-power category.

So networks that are better suited to connect these low-power IoT devices — notably,Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) — are being developed. These networks can connect devices over large geographic areas because of their long range, but use less battery power on the devices they connect and offer cheaper data subscriptions than traditional cellular networks. Interest in LPWANs among IoT providers and end users is growing in response to the opportunities these benefits present. For example, a municipality deploying parking sensors for a smart transportation project could lower its costs by using a LPWAN instead of a cellular network. It would also then be able to replace the batteries on the sensors far less frequently.

BI Intelligence has compiled a detailed report on LPWANs that explains the impact they will have on the growth of the IoT and the benefits of using LPWANs for IoT connections. It also forecasts the internet connections and subscription revenues associated with these networks and explains in detail the many standards for LPWANs that exist today. Finally, it lays out the current market landscape going forward as different network providers launch LPWANs.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Low Power Wide Area Networks are specifically designed for connecting low-power devices like sensors over a very long range. This makes them well suited to a wide range of IoT use cases like smart agriculture and smart cities.

Low Power Wide Area Networks can connect these low-power devices at a cheaper cost than existing cellular networks. LPWANs have cheaper hardware costs and data subscription costs because they don't need to provide the high data rates that cellular networks do.

BI Intelligence estimates that the total number of IoT devices connected over LPWANs will reach 700 million by 2021. This represents remarkable growth for such a new technology that has little present adoption.

A number of startups and new networking providers are launching LPWANs using standards that leverage unlicensed spectrum. These providers are trying to secure networking revenues from the billions of low-power IoT devices that will go online over the next few years.

Cellular network carriers are responding to this trend by developing their own standards for LPWANs that leverage their existing infrastructure that supports their 4G networks. This means they will be competing directly with some of the new providers mentioned above.

Different LPWAN standards are best suited for specific use cases, and business and government organizations will need to understand the benefits of the various standards to find the solution that fits their needs.

In full, the report:

Details the broad need for low-cost, low-power internet connectivity for IoT devices that LPWANs will help meet.

Forecasts the growth of the LPWAN market including new networking providers and traditional mobile carriers that are launching their own LPWANs.

Examines how LPWANs will be adopted by different industries that are launching IoT projects.

Compares the distinct characteristics and advantages of different standards for LPWANs.

Explains how the LPWAN market will develop over the coming years in regards to different standards and competitors.

Examines what the future of internet network connectivity for IoT devices will look like, including LPWANs and the coming of 5G mobile networks.

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